High tech vision

I’m one of those unfortunate visual myoptics that had to start wearing glasses in fourth grade.  I remember my first pair—we called them “cat-eye glasses”.  No, they have not returned to the fashionable scene, thankfully.

My most recent pair of glasses, yeah, multi-focals now, supposedly has some kind of hi-tech, anti-glare feature.  Only I think they forgot to include things like car headlights, snow on a bright day, and sunsets. 

Okay, so maybe that’s being a bit unreasonable. 

In Other Words…

This is not a pretty site if you happen to be claustrophobic:

However, if you could only see the rest of picture…

I don’t have to have spiritual tunnel vision; I can safely trust in God’s ultra-wide angle lens.  In other words…

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
    do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
    and he will show you which path to take.

Proverbs 3:5,6  Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

 

Ties that bind…or strangle.

Several years ago, I read a study synopsis from a well respected site indicating that the most influential power in a child’s life was his parents. (Golly-gee-whiz, I wonder how many man-hours and tax dollars went into that one.)  Of course, ask any of the teachers in my middle school, and they could have told you that.  Better yet, I have a Book that pretty well spells it out from years of experience and Wisdom. 

Needless to say, there are some forces in the Universe that are inherently powerful, for good or evil, and parenthood is certainly at the top of that list.  It’s not that parents can take credit for all the choice their kids make (positive or negative), but their influence is still credibly incredible in some capacity throughout a person’s life. 

So it takes some real courage when a child, even an adult “child”, has to back up and re-evaluate patterns of thinking and doing that

Just one. Pleeeeeeeeze?

There are times when it seems like just a couple of well-placed lightning bolts would solve quite a few of the world’s problems.  Or at least a few of mine.  Of course, that’s just another one of a gazillion reasons why I’m not God, and a good thing, too.  Irritating, frustrating, and irrational people are, you know ,…irritating and frustrating, and can make one question one’s own rationality.

I should know, having been one of “those people” myself, more times than I probably care to admit.

Many years ago, author Joyce Landorf coined the phrase “irregular people” in her book by the same name.   We all have them, as described above, and also as stated, we have all been one at some point, or will be.  It goes along with that truism:

Usually, a few bug guts on my windshield aren’t terribly inconvenient; although they’re ugly, I can still see to drive my car.  That is, until the sun hits them just the right way, then …

…and suddenly, driving becomes a hazardous enterprise!  Really, the responsible thing to do is to pull over and clean off the windshield.  Otherwise, I’m not only endangering myself, but those in the car with me and other drivers sharing the road.

Irregular people do that.  They can muss up my vision–my perspective, intentions, goals. And if I allow it, even my physical health, and more importantly, my heart.  

That’s one of (the many) reasons why this was written into eternity for us:

“Guard your heart above all else,
    for it determines the course of your life.”

Naturally, bug guts come in all varieties and colors: offense and unforgiveness, unmet expectations, unfair or harsh criticism, and worse things I care not to put in print.  Then there are the times (oh, this is hard one!) when I realize that it’s my emotional guts on someone else’s windshield.  It’s one thing to forgive someone else–how mature and altruistic of me.  It’s quite a different challenge to ask someone else’s forgiveness.  Saying “I’m sorry” may be a bit of a lost art.  I’ll admit I’ve gotten quite good at it through the years, and I’m still learning.  It sure can go a L-O-N-G way in helping clean up the other party’s visual field, though.

It’s fairly easy to put off the cleaning process, especially when we’re in the fast lane of life, until by God’s grace His light hits our lives and we’re stunned by how much we really can’t see.  Best to pull over, STOP, get out of traffic,–whatever that looks like for us individually–thus protecting all involved.  

Guaranteed, the ride will be much more enjoyable when the view is unobscured.

Proverbs 4:23  Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Biblical coat check

He doesn’t have to wear them ALL the time.

My husband, Bob, is forever misplacing his glasses.  I was not at the lake with him when one pair of glasses took a dive into the water, never to be found (by him, anyway, but maybe by a hungry large mouth bass).   Another time his expensive prescription sunglasses went missing from the car, and guess who got blamed for that one…??  Our house isn’t really that big, but enough so that treasure hunting for a pair of spectacles can make you late for work. (Has that ever happened?  Perhaps I shall

What’s in YOUR salad?

According to somewhere on the un-impeachable wisdom of the internet, we are told that 55 grams of leafy dandelion greens (that’s about ¼ of a cup, again, ibid source of information) can supply 112% of our daily need for Vitamin A.  This, naturally, depends on several things:

1. That our need for Vitamin A won’t be redefined in the near future, (like it’s cousin, Vit-D)
2. That the internet is correct (a discomfiting assumption)
3. That we can get past our aversion to eating what we all grew up calling “weeds”.

I should insert here that I have acquired a mildly humorous reputation at work as a health nut, that is, being willing to try otherwise unconventional things in the name of “wellness”.  I’m seriously not much of a cook, I use